After a turbulent season - Petra Kvitova now enjoys the sweet spot of being in tennis

     "Few players will definitely not go," Petra Kvitova said concerning people participating at New York events this year, the Cincinnati Masters and the US Open. She had clearly shown her doubt during the virus situations by saying "There's still a chance I will not go to the US Open...I'm still thinking of what everything will look like, what the restrictions will be, how many people we can take and if they quarantine us."

     Trying and unbelievable times prevailed as Petra Kvitova was disappointed to bow in the semifinal of the Brisbane International, a warm-up event leading to the Australian Open. Madison Keys took the match in 3 sets, but Kvitova gave a valiant attempt to make up for the loss by having better results at the Melbourne slam of which she'd never won a title. Ashleigh Barty, a countrywoman would beat her out in the Australian quarterfinal and it took a few more tournaments for the Czech to ever get to a final. She did accomplish this at the Qatar Open against Aryna Sabalenka but the Belarusian got the win. After that, events were cancelled and postponed as the tour was suspended for over four months because of the coronavirus pandemic. It continued to rage throughout the world leaving players uncertain if and when any tournament would be played within the year.

     Players were quarantined within their home country for months, practicing and waiting, hoping for word of when the tournaments would resume. It was in August that organizers formulated the Cincinnati Masters and the US Open to be played at the National Tennis Center in New York. Strict guidelines of 'living in a bubble' were in effect causing most to be doubtful on even coming to New York to play.

     Despite it all Petra Kvitova decided to compete within the Pandemic system but she would be defeated in the Round of 32 of the Cincinnati Masters. It surprised her that she'd also fall in the Round of 16 to Shelby Rogers who'd made a great comeback from injury and defeated the Czech in a three-set battle. The framework wasn't working for many as Kvitova said that "Playing without the fans in Grand Slams, I can't really see it..." She would extend her time at the French Open to the semifinal round with Sofia Kenin who took the match in straight sets. Kvitova had the same success even 8 years ago going only as deep as the semifinals.

Competition is tough and this may be another thing on the No. 8 to accomplish

     The Czech may have her work carved out for her in possibly capturing a French Open title as well as one at the US Open next season, both at which she hasn't done yet. She can look upon this year as holding her own and still staying within the top 10 of the WTA rankings. She was awarded the Golden Canary Award by the Czech Tennis Federation and named Czech Player of the Year for the third time in 2011, 2014 and now in 2020. Petra had put on her social media "Honored to be awarded with the Czech Player of the Year trophy...Thank you as always to my amazing partners Alo Diamonds and Tag Heuer." The year may have been difficult, learning to play during a new format and stressful conditions but for Petra Kvitova being true to her mantra of play resulted in her becoming an ambassador for two new sponsorships: Czech Audi Motors and Mattoni Mineral Water. Things are coming together nicely for the Czech who can only feel at the end of the season that it's "A nice way to finishing a challenging year."

from Tennis World USA https://ift.tt/3pfotBm